Rebuilding Bromley

Bromley has joined nearby Croydon in ambitious plans for town centre regeneration.

The Bromley master plan names 12 opportunity areas for offices, hotels, housing and, in particular, shops, in a £1 billion plan that will need private developer involvement. Among the sites is one west of the High Street that could have 19,974 sq.metres (215,000 sq.ft.) of shopping and 1,180 residential units. Included in the proposals is a major extension of the Glades Shopping Centre.

Two sites have already gone to developers; Land Group will turn the town hall into a 150 bedroom hotel and Cathedral Group will embark on a £300 million scheme in Westmoreland Road.

In the case of Croydon, the master plan for the key site between George Street to the north and the High Street to the west, in the heart of the metropolitan centre, has been up for public consultation in September and October.

The area has some impressive buildings, such as the art deco Gas Board property and also the headquarters of Nestle UK, but it suffers from a poor quality public realm and the legacy of the 1960s St George’s Walk Shopping Precinct.

Bromley based Jeff East of Acorn has already put together a deal for a Travelodge in the town, one of four in the immediate area, the others being in Sidcup, Bexleyheath, and East Grinstead (which will have a Wilkinson store as part of the scheme).

"Generally speaking the lettings we have transacted have been small. The investment activity has been from private buyers, such as the portfolio of 11 freeholds we sold, three of them let to Swintons," East said. He noted that business had become harder in the past two months "but we have had a good year and double that of 2010."